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Recapping Round 1 of the 2017 AFL season

Roar Guru
26th March, 2017
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Jobe Watson is back to being just a football player for the first time in years. (Photo: Greg Ford)
Roar Guru
26th March, 2017
1
1156 Reads

One round down, 22 to go, and there are some huge points of interest to come out of the opening round of the 2017 AFL season.

Once again, Carlton and Richmond were given the honour of opening the season on the Thursday night at the MCG, with Richmond winning by 43 points on the back of a phenomenal performance from Dustin Martin.

Martin’s future will be a huge point of debate throughout the season as he will become a free agent at the end of the year, but after just one match there are calls for the Tigers to keep him at the club.

His best-on-ground performance included 33 disposals as well as a 75-metre torpedo in the fourth quarter which led to a goal to Josh Caddy, one of four new players unveiled by the Richmond Football Club.

Overall it was a good night for the quartet with Dion Prestia, Toby Nankervis and Dan Butler all making an impact for their club.

Fans will be hoping that after a disappointing 2016 season in which they dropped to 13th on the ladder with just eight wins, that the victory over Carlton is the first step towards a return to September.

This Thursday night they face Collingwood for the only time this season hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened in the corresponding match last year.

Drew Petrie West Coast Eagles AFL 2017 tall

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On April Fools Day last year, Brodie Grundy kicked the winning goal for the Pies with mere seconds remaining to sentence Richmond to a heartbreaking one-point loss, from which they would never really recover from.

Nathan Buckley might be one of several coaches under the pump entering this season but will be heartened by his side’s effort against the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.

The Pies started slowly but eventually worked their way into the match, and took the lead briefly in the third quarter before eventually going down by 14 points.

The Bulldogs were playing their first match since last year’s stunning grand final win over the Sydney Swans, and will once again be one of the teams to watch in 2017.

Their victory over the Pies was highlighted by a huge first quarter goal from Travis Cloke, whose struggles with form at Collingwood last season led to him being asked to be traded to another club.

Other than that, Cloke had a modest debut for his new club, but there is no doubt that he will eventually settle into the side, as will Stewart Crameri, who missed last year’s big victory after having served a season-long doping ban arising from the Essendon supplements scandal.

The Swans will want to avoid dropping to 0-2 when they face the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium this Friday night in what will be their first meeting anywhere since October 1 last year.

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John Longmire’s men started strongly against Port Adelaide but faded in the second half as the absence of key players such as Jarrad McVeigh, Aliir Aliir and Callum Mills, as well as the absence of Tom Mitchell who defected to Hawthorn during the off-season, told the story.

However, Sam Reid emerged through his first match in over 18 months unscathed, while Lance Franklin and Josh Kennedy did their best to keep the Swans afloat in the second half, though to no avail.

On the flipside, the Power had incentive to perform not only because coach Ken Hinkley is under pressure to return the side to September in 2017, but also because captain Travis Boak was playing his 200th game.

Jaeger O'Meara Hawthorn Hawks AFL 2017 tall

Their first win at the SCG since 2006 was highlighted by the performance of Sam Powell-Pepper, who on his AFL debut kicked a goal with his first kick, and then booted another in the third term, to set his side up for success.

It’s a fair bet to say that he will be named the first Rising Star nominee for 2017.

The other twilight match on Saturday saw Melbourne get its season off to a promising start, recovering from a dismal first quarter to end a 14-match losing streak against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

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After the Saints led by 23 points at quarter-time, it was thought that they would continue their decade-long dominance of the Dees, which had stretched back to Round 1, 2007.

But despite the best efforts of Nick Riewoldt, who went down with a knee injury late in the final quarter, Alan Richardson’s men were swamped in the final three quarters as they crashed to their third straight Round 1 loss.

They could fall to 0-2 next Saturday night when they make the long trip across the Nullarbor to face the West Coast Eagles, a side they haven’t beaten since 2011; further, they haven’t won in Perth since that same year.

The prime-time match saw Essendon begin its much-anticipated “comeback story” with a massive blockbuster against Hawthorn at the MCG, and the club made the most of it both on and off the field.

Pre-match, over tens of thousands of fans made the march from Federation Square to the ground, repeating what they did prior to their match against Melbourne last April.

Once the match got underway, the Bombers started strongly, much to the delirious delight of their strong and large legion of supporters, kicking three goals and looking composed against the powerhouse team of this decade.

They then led by 13 points at quarter-time but the Hawks, as expected, hit back in the second quarter to take an eight-point lead into the main break, and when they led by 13 halfway through the third they looked to be home.

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But the Bombers had other ideas, and they would kick five consecutive goals to take a ten-point lead at the final change, but not before Ben McEvoy pegged back a goal for the Hawks.

Another five goals in the final quarter would cap off a night to remember for the Essendon faithful, who have gone through more than most over the last four years, which of course were dogged by the supplements scandal.

The scenes at full-time were one of delirium and relief as the Bombers got back to doing what they do best – playing football with freedom.

They will now fancy their chances of going 2-0 when they travel to the Gabba for the first time since 2014 this Saturday night, where the Brisbane Lions await.

The Lions, with new coach Chris Fagan in charge after the sacking of Justin Leppitsch last August, started strongly against the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium and at one stage they led by 45-1.

That was after they kicked the first seven majors of the match en route to a 46-point half-time lead, before the Suns came roaring back hard.

Rodney Eade’s men kicked eight goals in the third quarter, and leveled the scores halfway through the last, but in the end they will be left to rue their poor opening quarter at the end of which they trailed by 31 points.

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Josh Caddy Richmond Tigers 2017 AFL tall

The Suns could now drop to 0-2 next Saturday night when they make the short trip south to Sydney where they will face a shell-shocked GWS Giants side still smarting from a shock first-up pummeling by the Crows in Adelaide.

We’ll recap the Crows-Giants game shortly, but first to the early game on Sunday, which saw the West Coast Eagles make a winning start to their season as they set about righting the wrongs of last year.

The Eagles were involved in the trade of all trades last year when they landed Hawthorn champion Sam Mitchell, and the four-time premiership Hawk made an immediate impact for his new club, gathering 38 disposals.

But the club’s win wouldn’t be complete without a classy display from Josh Kennedy, who kicked seven majors as he bids to become the first man since Gary Ablett Sr. in 1993-95 to win three consecutive Coleman Medals.

A final-quarter goal to Drew Petrie, who was one of several North Melbourne veterans let go by Brad Scott at the end of last season, iced the cake for the Eagles, who will start hot favourites against St Kilda at home next week.

As for the Roos, a long season will loom indeed as they set about rebuilding their list, and with the Geelong Cats to come on Sunday, a first win may not be forthcoming.

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Throughout the off-season there was so much talk of the GWS Giants being premiership favourites, given their playing list is the second-oldest in the AFL (only behind the West Coast Eagles) and one of the most talented.

Whether this external noise, among other things, contributed to their 56-point loss to the Adelaide Crows (and to some extent the relinquishment of the tag of premiership favourites to them) at the Oval remains to be seen.

Indeed, the Giants started well, leading by 14 points at quarter-time, but eventually the unrelenting heat, an unforgiving pro-Crows crowd and a hamstring injury to ex-Docker Tendai Mzungu in the second quarter all contributed to their downfall in the second half.

For the Crows, it was a case of no Tex, no Thompson, no worries.

The best attacking side of 2016 was once again on show as they kicked 22 goals past a woeful Giants defence, the most prominent of which were kicked by Eddie Betts (four) and Josh Jenkins, whose goal on the half-time siren set up a dominant second half for the men from West Lakes.

They could have also been inspired by the presence of the women’s team, which took home the inaugural AFLW premiership cup after they defeated the Brisbane Lions in a thrilling grand final at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

It now makes their second-round clash against Hawthorn at the MCG next Saturday all the more intriguing, given the Hawks are coming off a shock 25-point loss to Essendon in their season opener.

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The Crows have not beaten the Hawks at the MCG since 2009, and not anywhere since Round 1, 2011.

Another win for Don Pyke’s men will definitely make them one of the teams to watch out for in 2017, despite the injuries to key players which threatened to undermine the early part of their season.

The final match of the round saw the Geelong Cats start their season with an impressive win on the road, downing Fremantle by 43 points at Domain Stadium with Patrick Dangerfield gaining 24 disposals.

And so, if the finals were to be played this weekend, this would be the schedule of matches:

Qualifying finals (parentheses indicates the round they will meet this season)
Adelaide Crows versus West Coast Eagles, Adelaide Oval (Round 23 at Domain Stadium)
Geelong Cats versus Richmond, Simonds Stadium or the MCG (Round 21 at Simonds Stadium)

Elimination finals
Port Adelaide versus Western Bulldogs, Adelaide Oval (Round 22 at Eureka Stadium)
Melbourne versus Essendon, MCG (Round 6 at Etihad Stadium)

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